Staring at Microwaves
by With Death Comes More Death
Summary: A few days before the annual UA Sports Festival, Izuku finds himself staring at a microwave. It gives him an idea.


**Mandatory Disclaimer:** I own nothing that happens in this story. Say that I do and we will have issues.

…

 **Staring at Microwaves.**

…

Izuku rubbed at his aching face. _Ow… That one hurt a lot more than the rest_ , he thought to himself as he sat down on the concrete, other hand and buttocks firmly pressed to the concrete of the alley that he chosen to do test the theory that he had come with a little while ago.

What was the theory that he had been testing on and how did it relate to the fact that his face was hurting like no tomorrow? Well, to make a long story short, after accidentally managing to regulate the power of One-for-All a tad during that villain attack at the USJ (though, he was honestly sure that the Nomu's shock absorption had been the only reason why his bones hadn't broken), he believed it was now possible for him to try and regulate his power output to a level where he didn't have to break his bones to use his quirk.

That had sent the inheritor to One-for-All into a mad, many day-long rush to try and get it to a point where he could use it in his arm in such a capacity before the annual UA sports festival began. It took some effort, but he was able to bring it down to the point where it no longer needed all of his concentration to use. Now, he only needed some of it, which was an honest improvement considering he went into the practice not even knowing if he could use it without destroying his arm and a city's block in the first place.

Managing this feat only netted him a relatively small power increase – at best, Izuku could put a pretty big dent into a wall with a punch – when compared to the One-for-All's full power, but it was better nothing. That had, however, made him wonder if he could transfer that power into other parts of his body with the same result.

It was actually that train of thought that brought the young hero in training here - here being a small alley that sat right in between the apartment building where he and his mother lived and another shorter, but still tall building. He had picked the location because, other than the dumpster and random, miscellaneous trash bags that sat close to the street awaiting pick up, the alley was completely desolate of anything, making it the best place for him to test his hypothesis as his room had very quickly stopped being that place – something that he had become very apparent after he put the energy that he had been putting into his arms, into his legs.

See, what had happened was that when it came time for Izuku to try and test to see if he could funnel his energy into his legs rather than his arms, he had managed to do so with a jump, thinking that he would only end up going a little higher than he normally would without One-for-All, since his punching power seemed to go in a similar direction. That was a mistake.

For, the moment that energy was released, Izuku sent himself head-first into the ceiling of his bedroom and he was unable to do anything to stop himself in his shock. Long story short, he barely managed to miss ending up with a concussion and had a rather large bump on the top of his head for a couple of days.

Still, that pain wasn't for naught as it revealed to Izuku that he could greatly increase his mobility if he were able to master using it with slight concentration, but after getting a noise complaint from the tenant above them, he had been forced to do so outside the comfort and privacy of his own home, which meant practicing in dirty alleyways. It was fine by him, though. He could care less where he did practicing along as he improved.

In terms of improving, the green-haired boy had managed to get his legs to work with One-for-All in its limited capacity, but when he tried to copy a move he had seen in one or two video games – jumping in between two walls – he just ended up slamming face first into the wall he had launched himself towards. The problem was that since he had used both his legs to propel himself, he ended up having nothing to brace his impact other than his arms and since the power level between both sets of appendages were heavily uneven, the power in his legs won out and his arms caved in, leaving his face to take the brunt of the force.

A result like that prompted the young Midoriya to try switching in between pumping One-for-All from his legs to his arms while in midair, but that only ended in immediate failure. Not being one to give up easily, he threw himself into that same wall over and over again but ended up not succeeding every time. It was rather disheartening, to say the least. He still kept going, though. He had no time to waste. All Might wanted him to use the UA festival as an opportunity to announce to the world of his presence and he wasn't going to let his idol down. Not even if it took him a million face plants to do so.

Unfortunately, Izuku realized that after twenty face plants into the million and no signs of improvement that his face wasn't going to hold if he kept throwing himself into walls like how he was doing. Besides, he was smart enough to realize what he was doing wasn't working and that he should try a different approach.

That's what brought the young man to where he was now, sitting on cement and rubbing the pain away from his face. He pondered what he could do next to try and remedy the problem. Continuing the way he was clearly wasn't an option since that only led to pain and failure, but what else could he do? He was running out of time before the festival!

The young hero in training thought it over for several more moments, but unfortunately, no ideas popped into his mind. He was stumped, at a dead end, and the aches that were coursing through his body most certainly did not help.

 _Ugh… Why can't I think of anything?_ Izuku thought to himself as he gripped the sides of his head in frustration. This was getting him nowhere, but he didn't know what to try next. If only he had someone to help guide him along or just give him advice! It might not get him the results he was hoping for, but it would at least get him past the point where he was at right now!

Letting out a frustrated huff, the green haired boy placed his hands behind his head and laid back in his training alleyway. _What to do? What to do…? What can I even do? It's not like I can make my brain think faster… Wait, can I? I wonder if there are exercises online that would help? Hmm, I would check online with my phone, but I left it inside so I wouldn't accidentally break it… Well, I guess it's about time for a break anyway. I should probably also get some ice for my face while I'm at it._

Standing up and rubbing his face, Izuku walked out of the alleyway, being thoroughly unsatisfied with his lack of progress.

* * *

Unlocking the door to his family home, Izuku was immediately met with the sound of the TV being on. He guessed his mother had been watching it while he was out. That, or was using it as background noise while she did chores. She liked to do that a lot, so it really wouldn't surprise him at all.

"Ah, welcome back, Izu— WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?!" Izuku's mother let out a shriek as she pitter-pattered her way over to where he stood. Soon enough, her small, soft hands found their way to his aching face to inspect the damage he had done to it, which only ended up aggravating his still healing injuries, but he didn't say anything as to not worry his mother when she was already clearly worried. " _Wahhhhh_! Why do you always end up hurting himself? First slamming your head into the ceiling and now this?! Do you just want to see your mother panic like this?!"

Feeling embarrassed by his mother's fussing, but still entirely used to it at this point, the young hero in training simply started to rub the back of his neck head as he sheepishly chuckled and replied with, "Ah, don't worry about it, mom. I was just testing out an idea I had about how to use my quirk and I ended up banging my head against the wall a little too many times."

"OBVIOUSLY!" Not being one to be so easily soothed by such explanations, Izuku's mother dashed away and out of sight, probably to get a first aid kit for all the cuts and bruises he had on his face. He would say that she moved faster than he's ever seen her, but she always did something like that when he got injured. He remembered the first time he got a scrape on his knee while he was hanging out and Kacchan and Co.… A bead of sweat went down the side of his forehead as he realized that a part of him honestly doubted if All Might could travel as fast as his mom when she was worried about him.

Knowing that it was going to take a moment and that his mother would want him to be sitting down so he could reach his face, Izuku made his way over to the couch, which sat right in front of the family TV.

Plopping right down onto its cushions with a satisfied sigh, the repeat-offense bone breaker decided to kill some time between the moment he sat down and the moment his mother would continue all fussing and turned his attention to the TV, seeing that it was the best alternative, considering his phone was left all the way back in his bedroom. He expected to see one of the TV dramas his mother liked to watch, but instead, he got an advertisement – one for a microwave to be exact. Actually, it seemed that his mom had put on an infomercial for some reason.

 _Is our microwave broken or something?_ Izuku asked himself as he glanced over at the kitchen, wondering if the big box of healthy-radiation emission was broken. _It is rather old, so I guess it breaking down isn't out of the realm of possibility… I mean, it doesn't even have one of those rotating dishes._

" _Not getting the results you need and your efforts always ending up_ _ **half-baked**_ _?_ " The salesman from the TV asked in the kind of energetic and bombastic voice one would expect from a person who decided to work such a business. Turning back to the screen, the TV was now showing several shots of assorted foods that were in all black-and-white. Izuku assumed that it was to imply the food hadn't been thoroughly cooked through. " _Fear not! For, we have_ _ **the answer**_ _to your plights! Introducing…!_ "

The shot suddenly cut away from aforementioned shots of food and onto a shot of new, pure white microwave that was overall, sleeker in design than the ones shown before. It was much more of a rounded rectangle than a box and there was a small bit of chrome trim here and there. That's all he could really say about the subject.

"'The Radicon 4000 and 1' _! The newest and most powerful version of our award-winning_ Radicon _series!_ " the salesperson continued with the same gusto he had been speaking with. "This baby can evenly heat through any piece of food that you put inside it! Frozen meat—"

Deep green eyes blinking before widening, a single thought found itself running through the young hero's mind, which was then followed by a large toothy smile growing on his face as he realized something, ' _Evenly heat all the way through'? Hm… Maybe…?_

With that, Izuku sent One-for-All coursing throughout his entire body and balled his quirk-powered hand into a tight fist.

* * *

In a perfect world, Izuku would've started showing off his new found use of One-for-All during the obstacle course race and the cavalry battle rounds, but due to his own lack of experience, he was wary of using it really stressful situations as a slip of concentration might lead him to releasing One-for-All at 100%. So, he decided that it was best to save it for the tournament arc and only when his opponent called for it to be deployed and he would have to say that his current opponent, one Todoroki Shouto, really did call for it.

Throughout the entire school year, there had been two constants with the students who made up Class 1-A and they were that Kacchan and Todoroki were by far the strongest of the class – probably even the best of the entire freshman year – and the latter, due to his closeness with All Might, was absolutely set on being the one to knock him out of competition and win the tournament himself. All while never using the other half of his quirk.

Izuku knew why Todoroki felt like that needed to be the case. His classmate had come to him and told him that much was the case. He wanted to show his father, the number two hero in the world Endeavor, up by winning and never using his flame powers because of the trauma that the flame hero caused him and his mother during his childhood.

A motivation like that was something Izuku could understand. He would've needed to have been a heartless bastard to not understand. To not want to show up a person who did _that_ much to them? To want to rid them of the satisfaction? That was an entirely human thing to want to do. Really, if he thought about, the heterochromatic boy's motivation for wanting to win the tournament paled everyone else's, especially Izuku's own.

All the inheritor of One-for-All wanted to do was to announce himself like how All Might wanted. What Todoroki wanted to do was show up an oppressor. Those weren't equal, no matter at what angle he looked at it from.

Still, Izuku wasn't about to go into their match and lie down for his opponent. No, because throughout the entirety of the matches he watched, another thing became prevalent to him. Everyone was trying their best to win no matter what odds were against them. All because they wanted to do right by whatever cause was motivating them to try so hard in the first place.

It would be a disservice to all them if he were to not try his hardest. It would be a disservice to Todoroki if he were to not give it his all. Most importantly, however, it'd be a disservice to himself, to All Might, to all the people who put their faith into him to become the next symbol of peace.

Izuku wasn't going to let any of them down and he **was** going to give it every little thing he had, but there was one problem. His opponent, by not using the second-half of his quirk, wasn't. Did he want to win using only 50% of his total power?

If that was the case, Izuku saw no need to put his full strength into the fight either. Five percent would do just fine.

* * *

The students of Class 1-A watched their two classmates step into their side of the ring in complete silence. One being the prodigy that was Todoroki Shouto and the other being the self-destructive wild card that Midoriya Izuku.

None of them could really come with a consensus of how the match was going to play out. A majority of them thought that Todoroki was going to advance, but it was in what capacity that all of them were unsure of.

Some (the most prominent of which being one Bakugou Katsuki) believed that the match was going to end in a totally one-sided squash in favor of Todoroki and others thought (it was mainly Uraraka who argued for that side) that the match was going to end up being closer than any of them expected. The rest were left right in the uncertain middle, where they had no idea how the fight was going to play out.

Both had quirks that were ridiculously strong, there was no doubt, but Izuku's quirk was one that would break his bones if he used it at all, so some were not even sure that he'd even use it for the sake of his own health. Truly, the coming match was a wild card indeed and all of Class 1-A were on the edge of their seats when Midnight announced its start.

The first few seconds played out much like how Todoroki's matches played out, him sending a huge, straight line of ice right at his opponent and everyone watched with bated breath as to how Izuku would respond. That was when the green-haired body did something that none of them expected, much less knew he was capable of.

Midoriya dashed off to his right faster than any of them had ever seen him move. Todoroki seemed to be just as surprised as the people watching as he simply stared at his opponent with wide eyes when his foot planted and he sent himself barreling directly towards the son of Endeavor.

Over the loudspeaker, everyone could hear Present Mic's reaction to what just happened next, "—AND JUST LIKE THAT, WITH A SUDDEN BURST OF SPEED, MIDORIYA HAS IMMEDIATELY TURNED THE TABLES ON TODOROKI AND HAS GONE ON THE OFFENSIVE! WITH A STELLAR DODGE AND RIGHT UPPERCUT TO THE GUT COMBO HE HAS PUT THE SON OF ENDEAVOR ON HIGH ALERT!"

If that wasn't enough, Mic began to ask all the same questions thinking.

"WHERE DID THAT MOBILITY COME FROM AND WHERE WAS IT IN THE EARLIER ROUNDS?!"

* * *

Five percent. That was all that Izuku could use without him breaking his bones. It was just All Might's guess as to what the strength of his attacks was, but since he's had One-for-All much longer than he has, the green-haired boy decided to defer to the much more experienced party and go with it.

Izuku had just put that much into his right uppercut to Todoroki's stomach and even then, the naturally split boy was sent flying a solid five or so meters backward. Not enough to knock his opponent out for good, but it was more than enough to get him close enough to being eliminated due to ring-out and get his message across. He could fight him and he didn't need to break any bones to do so.

* * *

As Shouto fell back the ground after taking an uppercut right to the stomach from Midoriya, he quickly shook the shock of the green-haired boy's sudden burst of speed and power and looked around for his opponent, fully expecting Izuku to try and punish him more while in the air.

Catching glimpse of the green-haired boy, the son of Endeavor willed a wall of pure ice into existence between the two of them, doing so right as hit the floor of the battlefield. He didn't know what had just happened, but he did know that he needed to regain his footing so that he could fight Midoriya on equal terms and not in the state that the dumbfounded, shocked state that his shock had forced him into.

 _A surprise attack like that can only work once, Midoriya,_ Shouto thought to himself as he jumped back to his feet, ice being ready to use at the sign of any movement. The wall that he had made to keep Midoriya from him was only two or three meters wide and about the same length height-wise, so it was entirely possible for him to bounce in and attack from either side—

" _RAHHHHHHH!_ " Suddenly, a battle cry came from behind the wall, knowing that it had to be Midoriya preparing for an attack, Shouto prepped himself to receive the attack by looking back and forth, in between his left and right.

The moment the heterochromatic boy heard the screaming begin to move, he knew he made a mistake because it didn't move to either the left or the right. It went upwards.

Having caught his miscalculation just in time to be able to defend against the attack, Shouto began to pump more ice into the wall that he just created and made a shield of ice to block Midoriya's attempt at an overhead attack, making sure to curl the tail end of the wall.

When Shouto felt the wall of ice he had created rattle under the pressure of what he assumed to be Midoriya's attack, the son of Endeavor knew that the impromptu barrier he created worked as intended.

Knowing that there was no way Midoriya was going to be able to keep his footing on the block of ice, Shouto turned around and prepared the biggest blast of ice that he could create. _Sorry, Midoriya,_ he thought to himself as he waited for his opponent to fall into his line of fire, _but looks like this is the end for you_ —

" _SMASH_!" Todoroki's eyes widened immediately when he heard that word being yelled out being accompanied by the ice above him being to shake again. Looking up to try and figure out what had just happened, but before he could even ponder it for more than two seconds he felt himself be sent flying once again.

* * *

Having landed on his back after throwing a fruitless punch at the ice Todoroki had created, Izuku was beginning to panic super hard. Already, he was beginning to slide down towards the opposite end of the ice, which the green-haired boy already knew that his opponent would be waiting for him to end up.

 _Come on, Izuku… Think, think!_ Panicked thoughts ran through his mind like a wasp stuck in a glass jar while he slid, flashbacks of what happened to Sero by the end of his own fight with Todoroki. The closer he got to the end of the sloped wall, the more prevalent those thoughts became, but right as he approached the edge, his green eyes widened in realization.

Forcing One-for-All through his body, Izuku proceeded to yell out his idol's trademark phrase, rock himself backward and then forward, and slap all four of his limbs into the ice, making sure to have his palms land under his waistband. That being enough to launch himself into the air, flip himself backward (with a little effort on his own part, of course), and get him away from the sloped-ramp entirely.

Landing feet-first onto the ground, doing so right on the edge of being out-of-bounds and eliminated, and now having a clear route to his opponent, Izuku once again sent himself barreling towards Todoroki and sent a left hook right into Todoroki's stomach.

* * *

"Wow, seeing how much Midoriya's improved his mobility is crazy," Kirishima Eijirou noted aloud as he watched the match between aforementioned green-haired boy and Todoroki continue to swing in the prior's direction. "Now that I think about it," the red-haired, hardening quirk user cupped his chin with his fingers as he continued to think aloud, "I don't remember seeing him use his quirk like this during any of the earlier rounds."

"Maybe he figured something out on the fly?" one Kaminari Denki offered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't see why he'd hide something like that for no reason. I mean, I know that he ended up winning the obstacle race anyway, but he sure would've won it more if he used his quirk like he was now."

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Was how Kirishima chose to reply to the Pikachu-esque teen, seeing it as good as an explanation of any. Besides, it didn't fit Midoriya's personality at all to hide secrets while everyone tried their hardest. Then again, he really didn't know the guy too well since they've rarely interacted. Thankfully, there was someone in the direct vicinity who could enlighten him, considering they went to the same middle school as one another.

Turning his head away from the match to ask that very person, Kirishima stopped himself the moment he saw how much the hot-head was fuming, deciding that it was probably best to wait until he stopped muttering like a psychopath to ask the question.

* * *

For already the second time of the match, Shouto picked himself off of the ground and sent a sharp glare at his opponent, who was now standing where he once stood. His body slumped forwards slightly and his breathing heavy.

 _It seems that he's tiring himself out…_ Midoriya clearly wasn't outright gassed, but he was beginning to lose energy and make his way to being there. _I could easily outlast him if I were to set up a good defensive base, but…_

Shouto glanced down at the reason why he trailed off and frowned. To put it simply, Midoriya had literally forced him into a corner - that corner being the white lines that connected to form a corner to his back right. He thought about forming ice directly behind him to ensure that the suddenly agile boy couldn't force him out, but that would leave him open to him blasting right through with a full-powered— Wait, full-powered?

That was when the son of Endeavor remembered what made him think that there was a connection with the boy in front of him and All Might, the reason why he wanted to beat him so badly in the first place. The sheer, almost All Might-level of power that his opponent would display from time to time and tensed before becoming incensed.

" **Why…?** " Shouto found himself asking his opponent in his anger, said opponent tensing his shoulders almost immediately. " **Why are you holding back?!** "

When Midoriya didn't answer, Shouto immediately asked another a question, "You could've easily knocked me out of the ring if you used your full power, so why are you holding back?! Are you just mocking me or something?!"

Unlike the rest of what Shouto asked him, Midoriya only reacted to the last question being asked to him, "W-What?! O-Of course not!"

"Then, why is this match still going on?!" Shouto asked as he balled his hands into tight fists. "I've seen the damage you can do at your full strength, if you had hit me with it there any of the last two times, I would be long eliminated! So, why?!"

Right then, in his rage, Shouto felt a little heat begin to emanate from his left side. Eyes widening in realization, he shut his fire powers off before they could fully manifest and glanced back towards where he knew his father was sitting, watching the event with a wide smile.

"Oh, so that's how it is, huh?" Turning his attention back to Midoriya, Shouto noted that he seemed to confused by what the half-half hero had just said, but that confusion soon turned into shock after he revealed what All Might's whatever and his father was trying to do. "You're trying to get me to use my fire, aren't you?"

When Shouto received no answer from Midoriya, the prior began to create an ice wall to cover his back so that he wouldn't be ringed out if his opponent tried to attack him as he continued to speak. "What did my father do to get you to agree to his plans?" He asked as it was the only logical reason he could think of for the green-haired boy to go through with such a plan. "If you're—"

"—You're wrong!" Midoriya cut him off with enough passion to convince Shouto that he at least wasn't doing so for that reason. "I'm not doing it for Endeavor's—"

"—Fine then. If it's not for my father, then I honestly don't care what reason you're doing it for, but if you're dead set on not using your full strength," Sending another stream of ice at Midoriya, Shouto began running up it and simultaneously yelled out, "I'm not letting this match go on any further."

Seeing the green-haired boy jump out of the way once again, the vengeful son turned the ice stream towards and past his fleeing opponent so that he was much farther in front of the still airborne boy. Jumping off the ice that he used as transportation, he immediately pressed the palms of his hands onto the ground and pumped as much ice as possible into the ground towards his adversary.

 _There's no way he was going to be able to escape this,_ Shouto thought to himself as he watched the massive wave of ice move towards his adversary. _Sorry Midoriya, but I'm not going to prove anything to my father if this is the amount of fight you're going to_ —

" _SMASH_!" Just then, a loud booming noise ran through the air as a massive amount of air pressure collided with Shouto's wave of ice and stopped it dead in its tracks, before then shattering completely. Getting sent flying by the sheer force of the attack, he quickly learned that it even broke through the stream of ice he had created to get in front of Midoriya as he flew right past it.

Knowing that, at this rate, he was going to be sent out of the ring, the heterochromatic boy quickly formed a wall of ice to keep him from getting sent out, doing so just before he flew over the white line meant to signify the legal boundaries of their match.

Bouncing right off his safety net and landing onto the ground with a thud, Shouto began to once again pick himself up off the ground, but as he did so, he heard Midoriya utter something that pissed him even more than he already was, "I'm the one not giving it my all?" Looking up to where the voice was coming from, the vengeful son found that his opponent's left arm was bruised to no end and was hanging limply by his side. "Why are you acting as though you haven't been doing the same thing?"

"I already told you that—!" Suddenly, as Shouto was growling out a reply, Midoriya sent himself flying towards him. Having seen the speed his classmate was moving at before and there being a sizeable amount of space between him, he felt that there was ample time to adequately counter the sudden counterstrike, but as he moved to defend himself, he found that his body was moving slower than it should've.

 _Dammit_ — the son of Endeavor thought to himself as he was sent right back into the wall of ice behind him by a right straight right to the stomach, already knowing what was happening to his body.

* * *

"So, that's it, huh?" Katsuki muttered to himself as he watched Half-and-Half get slammed into a wall by that useless Deku. He had almost missed because he was so pissed over that fuck-tard Deku once again hiding another one of his abilities from him like the bitch coward he was. He had heard the other two fuck-nuts a few seats over from his own talk about they thought he just figured something out in between rounds and wanted to laugh. What a load bullshit.

Deku was totally hiding it just for this fight with Half-and-Half. Probably just to show off or some shit like that. Either way, that really didn't matter much in the end.

What really did matter was that Deku not being a complete waste of space for once and drawing out the weakness in Cold and Cold's quirk.

Quirks weren't super powers or any shit like that. They were just like any other muscle in the human body. Use them too many times and eventually, a blemish would appear even in the most polished ones and he just found Half-and-Half's.

"Huh, what'cha talking about?" Hard Head asked, but Bakugou didn't even turn his head to look at the redheaded idiot.

"Fuck off," the hot head immediately said in reply, not wanting to talk to the guy when he was trying to pay attention to his stepping stone to the top. "If you wanna know what I'm talking about then just look at how that shitty Half-and-Half's moving."

"How Todoroki's moving…?" Shitty Redhead muttered that to himself as he turned back to the match. It took a few moments, but what Bakugou was trying to get at seemed to hit the rock for a brain. "Ah! He's moving a lot slower!"

"Oh, yeah, you're right!" Knock-off Pikachu exclaimed at an irritatingly loud volume. "Why, though? He was moving just fine earlier!"

"Maybe he's getting tired?" Raccoon Eyes offered from the row above them. "He's been letting off a lot of ice to try and hit Midoriya, after all."

 _Lord, why is everyone around me an idiot?_ Bakugou thought to himself as he began to tune out the rest of his class and focus on the match. He was half tempted to cross all of their dumbasses, but thankfully, it seemed that useless Deku was more than happy to explain it all to them.

* * *

"You're shaking, Todoroki-kun!" Izuku told his opponent as he picked him up by the collar of his track suit and tossed him back into the center of the ring with One-for-All at 5%. Doing so had been a lot harder due to him only having one arm, but he needed to get him to a spot where he could fight and talk to the two-quirked boy without the threat of accidentally knocking him out of the ring, so the energy expended was more than worth it.

Waiting for him to land and start to get back up, the inheritor of One-for-All continued to speak when Todoroki began to do so, "It's because of the cold, isn't it? Your body is slowing down because of it, right?! Couldn't you fix it with the heat of your fire?!"

"What are you—?" Todoroki began, but Izuku cut him off before he could finish, already knowing what he was going to say.

"—You said I was the one who, but look just who's talking!" The hot and cold hero already frozen body froze stiff at the green-haired boy's words. "I know that what happened must've been really bad and that I'll never be able to understand how you feel…" the inheritor of One-for-All looked down at the ground as he balled his one usable hand into a fist, before then looking up with a glare at his opponent, "but don't you dare think that I'm going to let you advance to the next round without giving your absolute best…"

Forcing One-for-All through his entire body, Izuku shot towards Todoroki and reared a fist back, sending it right into the two-quirked boy's stomach. The said boy moved to block, but once again, the frost on his body made it impossible to catch the entirety of the blow, only managing to lessen it by allowing it to graze his forearms, which wasn't nearly enough to keep him from getting sent backward.

"Everyone here has been giving it their all!" Izuku yelled at the top of his lungs at his opponent as he charged straight at his opponent once again and he was in front of Todoroki in a flash. "If you don't want to do the same," he reared his right back once again as he spoke, "then I see no reason to give you mine either!"

As Izuku yelled that last part out, he threw an uppercut which landed right on Todoroki's chin, sending the son of Endeavor straight upwards. He wasn't sent right into the atmosphere, but he was lifted off the ground a fair bit or, rather, high enough for the successor of All Might to wait a moment before sending himself forehead first into the two-quirked boy's stomach with the help of One-for-All.

Head ringing from the concussive force Izuku just forced onto his own brain, he waited for his classmate to start pushing himself back up to his feet to start talking again and drive the point the inheritor of One-for-All was trying to make, "Come on, Todoroki! Come at me with everything you've got!"

* * *

To say that Iida and Uraraka had been stunned into silence by the display that their friend, Midoriya Izuku, was putting up against one of the strongest students in Class 1-A would've been an understatement. The fight that he was putting up had taken both of their breaths away.

The usually shaky and unconfident boy who had to break his bones to use his quirk and would usually never talk back to anyone, the one that they called their friend for the majority of the school year seemed to be gone. Having been replaced with a young man who was actively asking one of the strongest students at UA to try harder.

What happened to their friend? When did he learn to use his quirk without breaking his bones? Why was he standing there, egging Todoroki on instead of knocking him out of the ring and winning?

All those questions ran through their collective minds, but, as the match once again entered a stare down, the two could only really think about one thing: this was, by far, the most interesting match to have happened up until this point.

* * *

Fighting Midoriya had sent Shouto into a loop and it wasn't just because he got hit so many times. The fact that his opponent had been constantly egging him on to use his fire was a large part of it.

What the hell was it to Midoriya if the son of Endeavor completely rejected the power that his father had given him? Why the hell did the green-haired boy care so much? If not for the sake of his father, what? Was he like Bakugou and wanted a fight where the two of them fought on equal terms, giving it their all? No, that—

"Todoroki… You've talked a lot about why you want to win this tournament, so I guess it's my turn now…" A very clearly exhausted Midoriya breathed out, his words just barely being audible over said breathing. "I…" He burst to his left and then to the complete opposite side, and then back towards Shouto, who due to the switch up had put his ice defense up to defend his right side, allowing for Midoriya to get yet another hit. "I have people who've put their faith in me…" The son of Endeavor fell as Midoriya spoke. "People who I no longer want thinking that I can't fight without hurting myself…"

"I wanna make those people proud…" the strength-enhancement quirk user began as he pinned the two-quirk having boy to the ground by the chest, with his knee. "To say to them, I can be a cool hero! That's why…" The green-haired boy then lifted a fist up into the air as he yelled out, "I'll win this fight!"

Raising his arms at the last minute to defend himself, Shouto felt his arms get knocked aside easy by the first blow his opponent rained down upon him, leaving him completely exposed for another attack, but right as Midoriya lifted his arm once again, he suddenly cried out, "It's your power, isn't it?!"

The world then proceeded to move like it was in slow motion for Shouto, his eyes widening as he remembered something his mother had told him a long time ago and just then, did he feel a heat grow on the left side of his body.

* * *

The sudden appearance of Todoroki's fire quirk forcing Midoriya to jump back and out of harm's way, the two entered in yet another stare down. One looked utterly spent and the other looking like he had gotten the hell beat out of him, but now contained new energy.

"Helping your opponent while you're fighting?" Todoroki rhetorically asked as he looked his opponent dead in the eye, who immediately tensed after he said those words. "Fine then, here's my all Midoriya…" The son of Endeavor began as he crouched, forcing all of his energy into both sides of his quirk. Fire and ice both building in large volumes on both sides of him, though the one who caught All Might's eye only smiled back shakily. "Here it comes… Don't blame me for what happens next."

Midoriya, seeing that his opponent was going to finally put everything he had into his next attack, felt obliged to do the same. Forcing One-for-All at 100% its strength through his left leg, he waited for Todoroki to fire off his attack, which was led off with a titanic wave of ice.

Releasing the energy in left leg, the successor to All Might flew right above Todoroki's ice and right towards his classmate, all the while rearing his right arm back up for a punch with everything that he had put behind it. Simultaneously, Todoroki lifted his left hand to fire off all the concentrated heat he could muster.

What happened next could only be described with one word.

 _BOOM_!

…

In the end, the match ended with a draw.

…

 **End.**

…

 **Author's Note:** Well, I wrote this in the span of the last three or so days. Hopefully, that doesn't show too much. Don't really expect too much in terms of return for this story. I really just wrote this for the sake of it.

I may build off what happens in this story later, but I really don't know how I would do that considering Izuku gets Full-Cowl not too long after this in the main story. I could probably do something along the lines of him going to another hero for the arc that proceeds this since he shows a side of his quirk that wasn't as scary for the people who wanted to recruit him, but were scared off by him injuring himself so much? That would probably be the only thing that changed, though.

Maybe he gets more attention from the League of Villains because he showed some more ability than he did before? I still don't know what to build off that.

Oh, maybe I'll do something where I have Izuku accepting a bunch of other heroes' agencies and his experiences there! That would be fun, right? Seeing Izuku interact with the likes of Mount Lady, Gun Metal, or whoever else! Yeah, that'd be cool. Lots of room for humor there!

Gotta write that down for later use…


End file.
